Princess of the Leaves
by Slavok
Summary: The Triforce was stolen, the hero slept, and Zelda could no longer remain in Hyrule. Impa told her of a place where she would be safe beyond the reach of the King of Evil, a place where she could grow stronger than she was. A place called Konoha.
1. Chapter 1

Princess of the Leaves

Chapter One

All roads led to the forest, and if you could navigate through the woods without getting lost, the forest led everywhere. Zelda followed Impa through a forest that had been called sacred nearly as often as it had been called cursed. Link had grown up in these Lost Woods, raised as a Kokiri.

She had placed the hopes of her kingdom on that boy. She still did, but he slept, and would not wake for years to come.

"There is nothing left for you here," Impa said. "Not anymore, and not for a long time."

"I know." They had visited the fountains they could reach of the Great Fairies, creatures neither divine nor demonic but powerful all the same– _fae–_ to receive what blessings they could. They had even stopped to allow Zelda to study under the enigmatic figure known only as the Happy Mask Salesman, where she learned how a mask could change the soul as easily as the face until she no longer needed the mask at all.

But Ganondorf's power was growing, and Zelda was no longer safe within Hyrule's borders. The Triforce of Wisdom did not give her the strength to fight her enemy, but it revealed her enemy's weakness and warned her of his strength. His weakness slept in the Sacred Realm while his strength grew immeasurable. No, his strength had _always_ been immeasurable, ever since he stole the golden treasure and had it emblazoned on his hand, but his understanding of how to use that power, _that_ grew more and more dangerous.

"He will not look for you beyond Hyrule," Impa said. "Will he?"

Zelda shook her head, her sun-yellow hair waving past her pointed ears. "He fears the Sword of Evil's Bane and knows not when Link will awaken. He will always keep at least one eye on the Temple of Time until then." And when that happened, Zelda would return to guide the awakened hero, and if they managed to awaken the Sages, they just might have a chance.

That was the gift the Goddesses bestowed upon her. She could know strangers as well as she knew herself, and she could remember things that hadn't happened yet. Not all things, but it was enough. It had to be.

Zelda stumbled as she walked and took a breath of … something different. Neither new nor old, just … strange. Another world. That was the nature of the Lost Woods. Sometimes it spat you out, sometimes it swallowed you whole, and sometimes it took you into the unknown.

"We're here," Zelda announced.

"Are we?" Impa looked around. The trees here looked the same as the trees they had passed–twisted, gnarled, _ancient_ –but Zelda could not deny the shifting in her gut. A different level of gravity, maybe? Or maybe something alerted her spiritual senses, as she stepped out of the world that she was born in and bound to. "I have been here only a few times before," Impa admitted. "Only once since you were born. But the Sheikah were remembered then and respected, though we have had no presence in the village for a long time."

"And what village is that?" Impa had told her little of their destination, only that it was distant and (relatively) safe.

"Konoha." A name that meant nothing to Zelda, except that she would dwell there for years to come. "It is common for them to train their children in combat and … practical magic. Most of them have started training while younger than you, but I have taught you the basics and you're a fast learner. I should be able to enroll you in their academy without much difficulty."

There was something in her voice that Zelda could sense. Pain. "You're not staying here with me."

Impa stopped walking and her shoulders sagged. "You'll be safe here. You won't need my protection as much, and Kakariko … Kakariko Village is still my responsibility."

When Ganondorf had murdered her father, declared himself the King of Evil, and reduced Castle Town to an open crypt, Kakariko had found itself flooded with refugees. Someone needed to watch over them while Zelda was hiding.

Logically it made sense, but still … when Zelda was a baby, civil war struck Hyrule when a faction of the Shadow Folk forswore their oaths and turned against the Royal Family. Impa lost everyone in that war, everyone but Zelda. And when Ganondorf rose to power, Zelda too lost everyone, everyone but Impa.

But the path that saved the most seldom cared for personal feelings. "I understand."

Impa nodded, grateful for her acceptance. "Be careful while you are here. Learn everything you can, especially how to use your … gift. But reveal it to no one except whom you are certain you can trust."

"He will not search for me here."

"Ganondorf is not the only one consumed by greed, Zelda, and you will find many within Konoha who would use divine wisdom for their own ends. Even before, you've been an excellent judge of character. Trust yourself before you trust anyone else."

Zelda nodded. That was what she always did, not that it ever did much good. She knew what Ganondorf was up to from the start, but only two people believed her until the ruler of the Gerudo stopped speaking flattering lies and subservient oaths and instead unleashed near omnipotence.

By then Zelda had already fled.

Impa dropped to her knees and stared at Zelda with her blood-red eyes. Zelda sometimes used eyes like hers, whenever she changed into her Sheikah form.

And then she hugged her. Impa had never been affectionate, she had been stern, rigid, stiff. Yes, Impa cared for her, but she expressed herself through the fulfillment of her duty. Until now. "I have served you your whole life, Princess. And should I die, I will serve you still."

Ah. That was it. They were saying goodbye. "We will meet again," Zelda whispered, tapping into the Triforce of Wisdom. "You may not recognize me, but I will recognize you."

A moment passed, and Impa stood again. Together they walked out of the forest into a village encompassed by a massive wall. Konoha. A place beyond the gaze of the King of Evil. A place where Zelda would be safe. A place that would be, for the next few years, her home.

WWW

A/n So I don't know if I dreamed this story or woke up this morning thinking about it, but it's been in my head since I got out of bed, so I decided to spend a few hours writing it. Out of all the Zelda incarnations that I've seen in games, the one in Ocarina of Time was my favorite, on account of her actually doing things.

I don't know what the Triforce of Wisdom can actually do, but I figure that it should be about equal to Ganondorf's ability to be nearly invincible and Link's ability to fit twenty hearts in his chest and save and load repeatedly.

Also, if you get the chance, check out Broken Fate by Zealswordsmen. It's also a Zelda in Konoha story, but that's where the similarity ends. There are plenty of spelling and grammar mistakes (English isn't his first language), but if you can work through that it's well written, well paced, and the characterization is spot on. No, really, Naruto isn't an overpowered angstfest (which I have seen _so_ many times before), and Zelda's voice is exactly how I imagined it. And if enough people read that, he might write a second chapter.

By the way, the Lost Woods is a strange, strange place, and kudos to the writers who decided to start the game there. You can get to nearly anywhere on the map from there if you know which hole to crawl into (which you don't unless you've looked up a guide), and one of the theories is that you end up in Termina while traveling through the Lost Woods. And that's not even assuming that you're dead in that game. So I figured that if there was a way to get to Konoha from Hyrule, it would be through there.


	2. Chapter 2

Princess of the Leaves

Chapter Two

Sheikah Zelda–for she took the surname of her guardian while in exile and dwelt in a land where people placed their family names first–grew to love Konoha. It wasn't Hyrule of course, not that blessed land closest to the Sacred Realm, but it was a different sort of home. In Hyrule, she had been cared for and protected, but nothing had been allowed to touch her and she had been kept from touching anything else.

When she fled Castle Town on the eve of the darkest night, that had been the first time she had felt free, the first time she had felt to be part of the land that was hers instead of apart from it.

And so it was in Konoha. She was not Princess Zelda, but Sheikah Zelda, daughter of a distant clan with a benevolent history with Konoha. The villagers were kind to her, and she came to know as many of them as she could. To someone who had spent her whole life knowing no one besides Impa and her guards, nothing could be more fascinating than the life of a stranger, nothing more beautiful or more terrifying.

Fortunately, no one took as much interest in her as she did in them. Impa advised her to keep her secrets, and keep them she did. She told no one of where she was from, nor of the meaning behind the glowing triangle that sometimes appeared on the back of her hand.

Her other abilities, the power to change form from Hylian to Sheikah or the blessings endowed upon her from the Great Fairies she had visited, garnered little attention. Konoha was a melting pot of unique skills, some terrifying and grotesque, like the ability to possess the body of another or host a swarm of insects like a human hive, while others were more elegant, like the ability to see through walls. So if Zelda could shield herself in crystal or vanish and appear a short distance away, no one found that unusual.

In fact, her only feature that drew attention was her pointed ears. Yes, her pointed ears. Ethnic diversity was so limited in Konoha that no one had even heard of Gorons or Zoras, and anyone without round years was considered strange. People who didn't like her drew attention to her ears and flicked them to annoy her, and people who _did_ like her were at the age where they knew no other way to express their adolescent hormones except by, again, _flicking her ears_.

Fortunately, divine patience came with divine wisdom, but as Zelda was beginning to discover, divine did not mean infinite. But she made it through the academy, wore the symbol of the Leaf proudly on her head, and was ready to experience what it meant to be a genin.

"Hey Zelda!" Ino called out. Ino was a girl in her class with straw-colored hair and blue-green eyes, and she was one of Zelda's best friends in Konoha. Ino didn't mind Zelda's ears, and she had only one qualification for those who wanted to be her friend: they couldn't be romantic rivals.

"Good morning, Ino," Zelda said. "I never got the chance to congratulate you on passing the exam."

She grinned, presenting the Leaf symbol around her waist. "Piece of cake. Besides, I knew Sasuke was going to pass, so there wasn't a chance that I'd let myself fail."

Zelda smiled, shaking her head. "You really need a hobby."

"He is my hobby."

"No, he is your obsession. There's a difference."

"And what about you?" Ino asked. "You claim that you're not interested in any of the boys there, but you always come to class dolled up more than anyone else."

Zelda glanced down at her pink and white dress. It was the sort of outfit she often wore as a child in the castle. She no longer lived in the castle, but she wore it still because, surrounded by a foreign land, it would be easy to forget who she was, and she needed to remember. Hyrule could not afford anything else. "I don't need a crush on a boy to look my best. Besides, you know how fast I can change."

"Yeah, I've seen you go all red-eyes Tomboy on everyone. But don't change the subject. If it's not Sasuke, then … _arrgh_! Okay, fine! Keep your secrets. I don't want to know anyway."

"Thank you."

"Race you to the academy?"

"Why? There's no rush."

"Yeah, but if we get there early, we can get good seats."

"And by good seats, you mean …."

"Next to Sasuke, yes."

"But I told you, I'm not interested in him."

"Exactly! So you can sit on his other side and keep everyone else away. Last time I got to sit by him, that jerk Sakura did too just to ruin everything! And Sasuke glared at _me_ after the noodle fiasco, even though it was all her fault!"

Zelda shook her head. "You go ahead. I'll take the scenic route."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. Be boring."

She jogged away and Zelda let out a sigh. " _Farore's Wind,_ " she whispered, and appeared a good fifty paces ahead. It wasn't a jutsu, the sort of spell commonly taught to Konoha kunoichi, so it didn't require hand seals. Then she transformed into her Sheikah form, making her body grow more muscular, her skin darker, and her eyes the color of blood.

Ino gave her a look, catching up.

"I need the exercise," Zelda replied, and they ran.

WWW

By the time they arrived, Sakura had already taken the best seat in the room (by Ino's estimation), though she took a moment from being ignored by her crush to glance back at Ino to stick out her tongue.

"Oh, that _skank_!" Ino snarled.

Zelda, in her Hylian form again, placed a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Peace, friend. What is it you intend to do?"

"Grab her by her stupid pink hair and throw her across the room!"

"And take her seat, allowing Sasuke to ignore you as completely as he is ignoring her?"

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Have you considered doing nothing? I've noticed that to be a tactic you rarely employ. You cannot change another through sheer force of will, and you cannot make him enjoy your company when he wishes to be left alone. Respect his wishes–including his personal space–and he will come to respect you."

Ino shot Sakura one last scowl before turning away. The two girls had used to be good friends until they became rivals. "Has anyone ever told you you're an insufferable know-it-all?"

Zelda smiled. When she used it, the Triforce of Wisdom made her nearly omniscient, though that nearly part sometimes caused her trouble. "Yes, but you're the first one today."

They sat down in the back next to another one of their friends, Hinata. Hinata was a quiet girl, cautious, refined, and more than a little shy. Today she had a small smile on her face.

"So," Ino said to her. "What are you so happy about?"

Hinata blushed slightly. "He passed." Like Zelda, Hinata had no romantic interest in Sasuke, so Ino accepted her company, but that didn't prevent her from pestering Hinata day after day about whom she was interested in, and after two weeks Hinata relented and told her. And Ino laughed.

But today she groaned, noticing the presence of Hinata's crush in an orange jumpsuit. "Seriously? I thought we left behind trash like that when we graduated."

Naruto had failed the genin exam the day before–he had been the _only_ one to fail–but today he wore the symbol of Konoha's shinobi on his forehead as proudly as anyone else. "Ino," Zelda said. "You're being rude."

"Sorry," she said, glancing at Hinata. "That just slipped out. But really, girl, you can do _so_ much better than him! Heck, you couldn't do worse without going after Kiba's dog. And even that's debatable."

"Ino," Zelda said again.

"Okay, fine, I get it. Only _you_ are allowed to give advice."

"I never–" A shiver ran up her spine, cutting her off. Someone was watching her, someone unseen. The Hokage, maybe? He had a crystal ball to watch over his village without leaving his office, but surely he had more important things to keep track of than the orientation meeting for a new batch of rookie ninja, didn't he?

Whoever it was, the feeling passed as the watcher's gaze shifted.

"Zelda?" Ino asked, waving a hand in front of her eyes. "You in there?"

She looked around. No one else seemed to have noticed, not even Hinata who had remarkably keen senses. "My apologies. I must have zoned out for a moment."

"Mid-sentence?" Ino smirked. "You can be so weird sometimes."

Zelda forced herself to smile. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but after coming to Konoha, she grew to realize that she was a small fish in a large pond, and her divine blessing let her know just how vast the pond was.

Iruka, one of the academy chunin instructors, entered the room and the class fell silent. "As of today," Iruka said, "all of you are konoha shinobi. You will be tasked with missions to carry out, but you are still inexperienced, and will each be assigned to a three-man team under a jounin sensei. Your teams will be as follows." He held up a list and began reading. "Team One is …."

As he read off names, the room grew more and more tense. This was … destiny being made. Three people, locked together as one until they descended into the grave or ascended to the next level.

The Triforce used to be like that. Once it had been a golden treasure to unleash a golden age upon Hyrule, capable of making a man a god, mighty, subtle, and good. But no more. Ganondorf's unbalanced heart could not accept all three attributes of divinity, and his greed shattered what should not have been broken. The Triforce would not be whole again until Ganondorf died, and even with Wisdom, Courage, the Sages, and the Master Sword, Zelda did not know if that was possible.

Meanwhile, Ino whispered a prayer, " _Sasuke's team, Sasuke's team_ ," over and over again, and Hinata furtively watched Naruto out of the corner of her eye.

"Team Seven," Iruka read, "is Uzumaki Naruto, Sheikah Zelda–"

"Yes!" Naruto said, jumping to his feet. He flicked her ears more than most boys in the class.

"And Uchiha Sasuke."

"What?" Naruto began to protest the team assignment, but Zelda couldn't pay him any attention because she was distracted by nearly every female member of the student body shooting her death glares.

WWW

"You! Have stolen! My dream!"

Zelda cast a steady gaze at Ino's accusing finger as they stood outside the academy during their lunch break. Her _friend's_ accusing finger, or at least Ino had been until ten minutes ago. In her defense, it had been a very eventful ten minutes.

"I did not steal your dream, I didn't even _want_ your dream. It just fell into my lap." That happened to Zelda more often than she felt comfortable admitting. Princess problems, she supposed.

"Convenient," Ino seethed.

"I believe I mentioned that I am not interested in him." Zelda glanced at Hinata. "Either of them."

"Yeah, you say that now, but before you know it, you two will be going out on dates, and holding hands, and, and– _aargh!_ Someone kill me now!"

Ino was quite a rational individual, under the right circumstances. "I have never really approved of your obsession with that boy," Zelda said. "Do you know why that is?"

"Because you're secretly jealous?"

"Because there is a darkness to him that I do not like. He wears hatred like a cloak, hoping to turn it into a sword, though the nature of things tends to affect the reverse. I would have nothing to do with him if I could; he frightens me."

"Hey!" Ino snapped. "Don't talk crap about Sasuke! He's perfect!"

Zelda gritted her teeth in frustration. "What do you want, Ino? Do you even know?" She sighed. "Look, you always talk about treating love like a battlefield, but a battle needs spies as well as soldiers." The war that raged through Hyrule shortly after she had been born had been almost without soldiers entirely, just spies, assassins, and victims.

Ino frowned. "What are you suggesting?"

"How many of your romantic rivals have managed to interact with Sasuke without annoying him?" Zelda asked. "How many times have _you_ been able to talk to him in a manner that did not vex him?"

"Alright, you've made your point. He can be a bit prickly at times."

"And do you why? Do you know how to navigate a conversation with him without inciting his wrath? Because, if I'm on his team, I might be able to find out for you."

Ino hesitated. "And you promise you won't elope with him when I'm not looking?"

Zelda let out a sigh. Even if she did fall in love with someone in Konoha, her destiny lay in Hyrule. "I am not such a fool as to get in your way, Ino."

"Huh. Well, whatever. I should probably go get to know _my_ team. Man, I just _had_ to get stuck with some lazy slacker and a fat slob. I hate my life."

Ino trudged away and Zelda turned to Hinata. "If you like, I could do the same for you."

Hinata shook her head. _Thank goodness_. "Just promise to keep him safe."

Which could be even more difficult than Ino's request, depending on how reckless he was. But before Zelda could answer, Hinata's eyes widened and her face turned a gentle shade of pink.

"Hey, Zelda!" Naruto said from behind her. "Since we're on the same team, we should totally eat lunch together!"

Zelda turned and smiled politely at him. "That makes sense." It wasn't lost on her that he had come to her instead of their remaining teammate, who was nowhere in sight. "I trust you already know my friend Hinata."

"Sure. Hey, Hinata."

Hinata nodded mutely. Zelda turned to her. "Would you like to eat with us as well?"

Hinata's face turned from pink to red. "Um, thank you, but I should probably go meet my, my team. Excuse me."

"Huh," Naruto said, watching her scurry away. "I don't think your friend likes me much."

"It's not that," Zelda assured him, sitting down on a nearby bench. "She's just shy."

Naruto sat down next to her, excited and fidgety. "So, we're going to be on the same team," he said finally.

"Yes," she said. "The three of us."

Naruto frowned. "Yeah. I wish Sasuke wasn't on our team, though. He's a jerk."

Zelda considered that. Did Naruto believe that? Was he trying to convince her? Was he trying to convince himself? "Sasuke … has good qualities and bad ones, like anyone else."

Naruto scoffed. "Yeah. If being a jerk is a good quality, he has loads of them."

Zelda took a moment to think through what she was about to say. "There are a number of girls in our class quite fascinated by him."

"Fangirls," he said dismissively.

"Perhaps." He had a point. Ino was at her best when Sasuke was nowhere near her, but that was beside the point. "But more than once, Sasuke has found himself the subject of the attentions and affections of several girls his age, and it would have been very easy for him to take advantage of that situation. Do you know how many times he has?"

Naruto's eyes grew wide. "Has he?"

"No, he has not. How many people do you know, Naruto, who would behave as honorably when given the same opportunities? Would you?"

"Yes! I mean, I've never had the chance so I can't know for sure, but I think I would." He paused. "He's still a jerk though."

"Perhaps, but if so, he is not one who desires to harm others."

"Guess so," Naruto admitted. "I still don't get why everyone goes nuts over that guy."

"And yet," Zelda said, "you have done nothing but talk about him since you got here."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It could mean any number of things," Zelda admitted. "But if I had to guess, I would say that it is a basic human desire to be understood. You are alone, and Sasuke is one of the only people you know who could understand what that means."

"I–but …" he stammared. "So are you!"

Her eyes flashed open. "You noticed that?" _Idiot._ Of course he would. But he seemed so oblivious most of the time; she would need to revise her assumptions.

"Yeah! There are about as many Sheikah's in Konoha as there are Uzumaki's."

That was true, not that Impa was yet dead. She still lived afar off; Zelda visited Hyrule in her dreams, and while Ganondorf had ruined Castle Town beyond repair, he had left Kakariko Village relatively untouched. But if Naruto had noticed that about her, what else had he noticed? Zelda had never asked before, but she had to now. Who was he?

He was lonely, Zelda realized as she began to contemplate him, and that loneliness drove most of his actions and his ambitions.

But he wasn't alone. Zelda had never noticed it before, but sitting so close to him, she could feel another presence. Someone– _something_ –else was inside of him, vast, sleeping, something–

Naruto flicked her ear.

"Ow!"

He grinned. "Sorry, couldn't help it."

"Don't do that!"

"Right, won't happen again."

"You've said that before," she said, rubbing her ear.

"That was the last time, I swear."

"You've said that before, too."

"Okay, okay. If it makes you feel better, you can flick my ears, too."

Zelda gave him a flat look. "I can honestly say I have no desire to do so."

"Really?" He rubbed his ears. "Well, okay. Hey, Zelda, what's that triangle thing on your glove?"

Zelda wore a pair of white gloves, but the Triforce shone through whatever she wore when she activated it. "It's a symbol. Tell me, how many triangles do you see?"

Naruto counted them. "Three."

"Look harder."

He studied the mark on her right hand. "Um, three?"

"But the three triangles form another one in the middle, correct?"

"Oh, you're right!"

"And they also form a larger triangle that encompasses them all."

"Neat! So that makes six."

"Five."

"Five, right. So what's it mean?"

"It means …" _secrets_ "…balance. Do you understand why we have been assigned on teams like we have?"

Naruto scowled. "Yeah. I asked Iruka-sensei why I had to be stuck on the same team as Sasuke, and you know what he said?" Naruto put a hand on his hip and pointed a finger at the air in an impression of the chunin instructor. "'Because Sasuke graduated with the highest scores. And you, Naruto, had the lowest.'"

Zelda frowned. "I believe that is a gross oversimplification. If your worth can be assigned a single number, then that implies that there is such a thing as a perfect ninja."

Naruto cocked his head. "Isn't there?"

"No. There is balance, and there is imbalance. Balanced individuals are rare, but balanced groups are easy to be form. Balance requires everything: people to think, others to act, people to hide, others to seek. Sasuke is strong, but he will need you to be brave when power is not enough, and you will need him to be strong when courage is not enough. In short, we are on a team so you can be Naruto when it is not enough for him to be Sasuke, and so he can be Sasuke when it is not enough for you to be Naruto."

"Huh." He grinned. "I like your explanation _way_ better than Iruka's." He stood up. "Well, we should probably get going if we don't want to be late for our jounin instructor. Sorry about bringing up your dead family; I think that bothered you. But on the bright side, since we're all on the same group, we can call ourselves Team Orphan!"

Zelda groaned inwardly. "Oh, Goddess, I hope that doesn't catch on. I can think of nothing that sounds quite so pathetic."

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A/n And here's chapter two. It's the first real chapter, because the first one was basically a prologue. For those of you who are wondering, I kept the same teams in canon with one exception. I moved Sakura to Team Nine, also known as Team Not-Appearing-in-this-Fanfic. Sorry Sakura fans, but Zelda needed her spot on the team, and this seemed like the simplest solution.

I should probably explain Zelda's abilities right now. Her main ability is the Triforce of Wisdom, what let's her know stuff she shouldn't and, in my headcanon, gives her power over dreams. She mentioned having prophetic dreams when you first meet her in Ocarina of Time, and (headcanon again) I see that as the Triforce bleeding backwards in time to that point from the moment she received it. I'm giving her the blessings of the great fairies too. The one that gives Din's Fire is practically in her front yard, and she knows those spells in Smash Brothers, so I'm going with it. Also, like in the game, she can turn into Sheik, which is stronger and faster than her Hylian form. I'll probably give her the ability to create Light Arrows should the plot demand it, as well as any magical songs that she might need. But her main method of solving problems will be through guile, not force.

Thank you everyone who left a review, you're awesome, and you are more than welcome to leave another one. That's the only way I'll know if I'm doing anything right.


	3. Chapter 3

Princess of the Leaves

Chapter Three

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like some things, dislike others. Don't really feel like talking about it, really. Dreams? Haven't really thought about that. I have hobbies, quite a few actually, but none of them come to mind."

Zelda's new sensei looked around at her team with one eye covered and the other half open. Everything about him seemed to suggest apathy and sloth, but in a way too deliberate to be natural. His forehead protector, for example, was lopsided to hang down over his left eye, and there was a very specific range of tautness it could be tied so it didn't fall down over both eyes.

"Anyway," he said. "That's about it for me. Who wants to go next?"

Naruto's hand shot up. "Ooh! Ooh! Pick me, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Anyone?" Kakashi asked. "Anyone at all?"

"Right here, sensei! Literally right in front of you!"

"No one wants to go next?" He pretended to notice Naruto for the first time. "Oh, sorry about that. I couldn't hear you over how orange your jumpsuit was. Take it away, kid."

Naruto glanced down at his clothes. "You can _hear_ color?" he asked amazed. "Right. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, especially cup ramen. My favorite flavors are beef ramen, pork ramen, miso ramen, chicken … chicken ramen is okay, but–"

"No one cares, moron," Sasuke muttered next to him.

Naruto glared back. "I _dislike_ jerks. Like this guy. He's a jerk. I hobbies include training and … huh, that's about it. Man, I need some new hobbies. My dream …." His eyes flashed with sudden intensity. "My dream is to surpass the Hokage, and make everyone in the village acknowledge me!"

"Neat," Kakashi said. He pointed at Sasuke. "Mr. Sunshine, you're up next."

Sasuke glared at Kakashi before speaking. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke."

He named himself differently than Naruto had. For Naruto, Uzumaki was just part of his full name; it meant nothing beyond himself. But Sasuke knew many of his clan, and he was only one left.

"There are many things I dislike," he continued, "and few things I do. I don't have hobbies, but I do have an … ambition. I will restore the Uchiha clan, and I will _kill_ a certain someone."

Zelda felt waves of hatred flowing from him as he spoke. For him, anger was not a reflex, but a choice, something that he cultivated over time until it grew and festered, becoming aged, _rancid_. Now he was barely more than a child, but if he continued to meditate on darkness, she knew what he would become.

"Adorable," Kakashi said. He turned to her. "Your turn, princess."

Zelda stopped with her mouth open. "Why did you call me that?"

He cocked his head. "Pink dress?"

Oh. Right. "My name is Sheikah Zelda." Maybe one of these days, she'd tell someone her real name. "I like reading and thinking and having time to myself. I dislike conflict and unnecessary violence. My hobbies are the same as my likes, and my dream is …." Should she lie about this too? She didn't need to, but she didn't need to tell everything either. "If I live another five years, that would be great."

In four years, Link would awaken in the Temple of Time, and Zelda would return to Hyrule to save it, or die trying.

Kakashi half sat, half leaned against a railing with his eyes closed. Naruto was the first to break the silence. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei! You awake?"

Kakashi shook himself and opened his uncovered eye. "What? You guys done? Good. We start our duties tomorrow."

"Duties?" Naruto said. "Awesome! What are we doing?"

"Survival training." He smiled beneath his mask. "Don't worry. Despite the name, no one has died in it for a long time."

"Oh." He sounded oddly disappointed. "Why is it called that, then?"

Kakashi let out a noise that sounded like a giggle. "Because if you fail, you get sent back to the academy."

Naruto's eyes bulged. "But I worked hard to become a genin!"

"And so did everyone else. Your graduating class has, what, thirty kids? There aren't enough professional ninjas here to waste babysitting everyone who can pass a standardized test. If you impress me, you can keep your shiny little leaf emblems, and if you don't …." He chuckled.

"But you can't do that!"

"I can, and from what I've seen of you so far, I'm probably going to enjoy it."

Naruto glared at him. "You're not still mad about that chalk eraser, are you?"

"I've already forgotten about it. Bring your weapons, equipment, and all your best tricks."

"Even shuriken?"

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't. Be at Training Ground Three tomorrow at six. Also, skip breakfast. If you don't, you'll throw up."

Zelda watched him leave, the wheels in her head turning. In the academy, the instructors had begun each year telling the students how excited they were to be their teachers and how much they looked forward to spending time together, even though the actions of many of them throughout the year proved them liars. Kakashi was just the opposite. He seemed to have no interest at all in being their sensei, and if that was the case, he could give them an impossible task tomorrow and be rid of them by the end of the day.

But he wasn't disinterested, he was deliberately trying to appear disinterested. If his apathy was sincere, he could simply fail them. Was it a ruse to make them try harder to make him want to train them? Or was he trying to trick them into thinking that tomorrow's task would be impossible?

And what of his advice to skip breakfast? That didn't fit anything he seemed to be.

WWW

The next morning, Zelda met her teammates at the training area at six. Kakashi arrived five hours later.

"Hey guys," he said with a wave.

"You're late!" Naruto said.

"Yeah, sorry about that … but not really." He pulled a clock out of his pack and set the timer for noon. "You have about one hour to get a bell from me. If you don't, you get tied to a post and miss lunch. Everyone who does get a bell will eat their lunch in front of you."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "But you told us to skip breakfast! You tricked us!"

"And you believed me. Let that be a lesson to you; never trust your enemy, who, until noon, is me. I probably should have mentioned that earlier."

Zelda nodded, having expected this, and pulled a candy bar out of her pack.

Kakashi looked at her. "You brought snacks?"

She smiled at him. "You told us to bring our equipment, and these are cheaper than food pills. Besides, I have enough for everyone?"

"Ooh! Can I have one?" Naruto asked. "I'm starving!"

"Sure."

"Yes!"

She turned to Sasuke. "Would you like one too?"

He shook his head, glowering. "No thanks. I can do this by myself."

At that moment, Zelda caught a flicker of emotion in Kakashi's eye. Pity? Odd.

"Before you set up your picnic," Kakashi said, "you should know that I only have two bells with me."

"What?" Naruto said. "But if there are two bells, and there are three of us, and one of you …."

"One of us will fail," Sasuke said. He sounded content with that.

"Or two," Kakashi said. "Or three. I have enough posts for everyone. Don't hold back. You can even try to kill me if you want. If you succeed, I'll recommend you to skip the chunin exam posthumously and go straight to jounin. The test starts now."

WWW

Zelda had two forms. Her Sheikah form was well suited for speed and stealth, and her Hylian form was better at using the Triforce and the blessings she had received from the Great Fairies. Neither was skilled at combat. It had never seemed important; she needed to be able to elude and outwit Ganondorf, not face him.

She didn't regret her focus. Even if she had been stronger, she wouldn't have been able to steal a bell. Kakashi proved early on that he could defeat all of them at once without trouble, so Zelda didn't waste her time fighting him at all. Instead, she thought.

She studied his abilities when he fought Naruto and watched as he bested him and left him dangling from a tree. After Kakashi left to play with Sasuke–because he _was_ playing with them–she turned her attention to the lunches he brought as a reward for the victors. Or, more precisely, to the stone they rested on.

It was a memorial, with the names of fallen warriors engraved on its obsidian face. While the Sheikah tribe had sworn long ago to protect the Royal Family, there were few things on which they and Hylians could see eye to eye. To a Hylian, a cemetery was a place of death, but to a Sheikah, it was a place of memory. The Shadow Folk revered their fallen so much they built their temple within their graveyard.

 _Three of us,_ she thought. _Two lunches, and a tomb._ What did it mean? Because whatever it was, it was one of the only honest things Kakashi had said since she met him.

Naruto cut himself out of one rope trap, and immediately stepped into another. She had told him the day before that he had been placed on the same team as Sasuke for the sake of balance, but why place them on balanced teams if the weakest one was just going to fail? _What am I not seeing?_

After that, Naruto had asked her about the Triforce, the three that had been one that should never have been broken. _Two lunches and a tomb._

And before, there was a moment of pity in Kakashi's eyes when ….

" _I can do this by myself."_

"Good thinking, Zelda!" Naruto said after freeing himself from the second trap. "If we eat now, he won't be able to eat in front of us later."

"No," Zelda said. "There's no time for that. We only have twenty minutes before the test ends."

He grimaced. "Do you really think we have a chance? I threw everything I had at him, and he was just playing with me."

"Yes," Zelda agreed. "He _has_ been playing with us. And I think I just figured out his game. Can you send some shadow clones to find Sasuke?" It was, from what Zelda had read, a difficult technique, but Naruto had produced several to help him fight Kakashi.

"I guess, but what do we need _him_ for?"

"He is part of this," she said. "Or none of us are."

"So it's a three player game?" He muttered something under his breath that sounded like "stupid jerk" and formed five copies of himself. "What should they do when they find him?"

"Disrupt themselves. That should transfer their memories back to you."

His eyes widened. "They can do that?"

"Of course. You're the only person I've heard of who uses them for combat. Uneiko the Uneyed, Fintaito the Seer, Tomoe the Wraith, they all used shadow clones for information gathering. The only well known exception was Mimomoro the Mad, who used them for training."

His eyes bulged even more. "You can use them for _training_? Do you mean like sparring with them, or what?"

"Nineteen minutes, Naruto. At the risk of being curt, I must ask you to focus on finding Sasuke."

"Okay, fine." The shadow clones darted off in different directions. "But don't think I'm going to forget what you said."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Zelda said. "You'll have all the time you need to train when this test is over."

"Right, the test," he said. "The test that is a game that needs Sasuke here for some reason, and–holy crap!"

Sasuke himself appeared from behind a tree as soon as his name was called, and he was bleeding. Knives and needles protruded from his flesh, dripping blood wherever he stepped. "Help me," he croaked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"Hey, look!" Naruto said, pointing. "Sasuke's dying!"

The image, though, did not match up with the sound. Sasuke's words didn't match the movement of his lips, nor the the sound of his feet match his steps. These were subtle inaccuracies, but not one that a jounin like Kakashi should have made. If he were taking them seriously, at least.

"Naruto," Zelda said.

"Oh, sorry. I mean, oh no! Sasuke's dying!"

"That's not Sasuke," Zelda explained. "That's a genjutsu."

"Oh, right, a jengutsu. Yeah. That's … that's a school word, isn't it?"

"It's a hypnosis based illusion," Zelda explained. "It can be dispelled either through sudden, intense pain to shock you into lucidity, or through a burst of chakra, like so." She put her hands together to form a seal and focused her chakra. The illusion dissipated.

"Huh," Naruto said, looking at the spot where Sasuke's image had been. "I remember Iruka explaining that stuff, but he never used a repeatedly stabbed Uchiha as a prop, so it was hard for me to remember it."

"He's our teammate now," Zelda said, scanning the trees. If the illusion was there, then Kakashi would have to be nearby, right? "You'll have to get along–"

Naruto let out a scream. "Zelda!"

"What?" She turned to him, and saw him kneeling on the ground, fixated on an empty spot of dirt.

"It's okay!" he said, his voice growing frantic. "I know first aid! No, no I don't. But don't worry, I'm pretty sure you don't need those organs anyway. I'll go get help, so just stay here, and whatever you do, don't bleed out."

 _Another genjutsu._ Did Kakashi know any other tricks? She smacked Naruto upside the head to break the spell.

"Ow!" He turned around and saw her. "You're alive!"

"Yes," she sighed. "I'm–"

"It's a miracle!" He threw his arms around her in a hug.

"Oof! Um, that's okay, you can stop." Zelda was many things, but she was not a hugger.

"I'm not crying, I swear!" he said into her shoulder.

Zelda patted him on the back, not sure what to do. In the academy, they were taught to be stoic, skeptical, and cynical, which Naruto had learned as well as he had learned genjutsu. Ninja in general were supposed to trust their minds over their eyes, but while Naruto had been blessed with a strong heart, the same couldn't be said for his mind.

"I'll watch for you," she said finally, "and you'll watch for me, and we'll get through this."

Naruto let go of her and smiled. "Yeah! Because we're a team!"

Zelda smiled, or at least the corners of her lips twitched. She _had_ learned stoicism, and had it ingrained into her more than some of her teachers had hoped. "Exactly. And speaking of teams …"

"Oh, right, found him. Kakashi too. They were fighting each other." Naruto grinned. "Sasuke was losing."

"Then we should hurry up and help him."

"Oh, right. I guess that _is_ the plan."

Zelda nodded. "Lead the way."

They took off at a sprint through the trees. Zelda changed into her Sheikah form, as it was better at running. Zelda had the same amount of chakra in either form, but chakra was the combination of physical and spiritual energy, so while as a Hylian she had more spiritual energy, as a Sheikah she was more physical.

When they finally reached their destination, Kakashi was long gone, and Sasuke was buried in the ground up to his neck.

"Hey look!" Naruto said, pointing. "Sasuke's a severed head!"

Zelda reverted to her Hylian form. "Naruto."

"Oh, sorry. I mean, oh no! Sasuke's a severed head!"

"Oh, great," Sasuke said, managing to look down at them despite not reaching their knees. "The cavalry has arrived. Kill me now."

"And it can talk."

"It?" Sasuke repeated.

Naruto turned to Zelda, ignoring him. "Okay, I know this is another one of them hypnollusions, but before you get rid of it, there's something that I've always wanted to do: use Sasuke's severed head as a soccer ball."

"Oh, you cannot be serious!"

"That's not an illusion," Zelda explained. "He's just partially buried."

"You mean it's real?" Naruto looked down at Sasuke in amazement.

Sasuke scowled. "Again with the it?"

"So hold on," Naruto said. "Does this mean that I can or can't kick him in the face?"

"It means that you need to dig him out."

"What?" Naruto protested. "But … but I might never get this chance again!"

Goddess, she did _not_ have time for this! "You might never have the chance to become a ninja if we don't pass this test! So ask yourself what you want more: to become a ninja, or kick Sasuke in the face?"

Naruto gritted his teeth and closed his eyes for a moment. "I have never felt more conflicted about something than I have right now." He sighed. "But alright. I'll do it, but I won't like it." He formed three shadow clones, and all four of them started digging, using their knives as spades.

"Oh, wonderful," Sasuke said dryly. "I'm being assisted. Just when I thought being buried alive was the lowest I could go, _teamwork_ happens."

"Sasuke, you are not helping."

"I don't intend to. I don't know how you managed to forget this, but we're in a competition right now."

"No," Zelda said firmly as Naruto continued to dig. "This is not a competition, this is a test. The test is to see if we can see through the trick that makes us think that this is a competition, and beyond the trick, the test is teamwork."

Sasuke, uncovered to the waist, pulled himself out the rest of the way. "What makes you say that?"

 _A dozen bits and pieces, scraps of hints and shades of clues._ More than she had time to explain. "It's the only thing that makes sense."

"Weeding out the weakest link doesn't make sense to you?" Sasuke asked, brushing dirt off.

"Expecting a rookie genin to single handedly defeat a jounin doesn't make sense to me," Zelda said. "A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, but the weakest chain is stronger than individual links, and that is what we are if we can't work together."

Sasuke hesitated. "And if you're wrong?"

"Then you lose nothing. You've already proven that you can't obtain a bell on your own, and working together will only increase your chances. And if we get the bells and Kakashi still sends one of us back to the academy … he'll send me. You and Naruto will keep the bells, and I'll go without."

"What?" Naruto protested. "You can't leave me on a team with _him_ for the rest of my life!"

"I'll make chunin in six months or die trying," Sasuke said. "But for once I agree with you. That doesn't appeal much to me either."

Zelda struggled to remain calm. "Look, do you want to be genin together, or academy students apart?"

Sasuke gave her a flat look. "I'm considering my options."

"There are no other options!" Zelda said.

He cocked his head. "You're wrong on that front, at least. How about this: if we get two bells, I'll keep one, and you'll keep one, and Naruto gets kicked off the team."

"What?" Naruto looked from him to her. "And you wonder why I wanted to kick him in the face!"

"No deal," Zelda said, eyeing Sasuke. "This is my idea, so if I'm wrong, I pay for it, and no one else."

Sasuke smiled, and Zelda saw bitterness in his eyes and cruelty on his lips. "But that's the thing about teamwork. When you're on a team and you lose, you're not always the one to pay for it. Sometimes it's everyone, and sometimes it's everyone else."

The concept revolted her … but he had a point. If she failed in her life's work, she wouldn't be able to sacrifice herself to free her people. If Ganondorf captured her or if she managed to evade him until the day she died, her people would remain his slaves.

"I accept."

"What?" Naruto said, sounding betrayed.

"Do you trust me?" Zelda demanded. "Because if I'm right, the bells don't matter."

Naruto furrowed his brow. "Alright. I trust you."

"Good," she said, "because we have ten minutes left."

WWW

It took five. Naruto swarmed him with clones, hiding Zelda and Sasuke who disguised themselves as two more orange clad extras. Zelda stayed in the back and watched for tricks, prepared to shout out, in code, what Kakashi was planning, and Sasuke managed to a convincing impression of Naruto's inept enthusiasm until he got close enough to swipe both bells.

Still, Zelda suspected that Kakashi was facing them with far less than his true abilities, because they had finally started playing by his rules.

"Good job, kids," Kakashi said when they were done. "You got the bells, and you have–let's see–five whole minutes to fight among yourselves."

"What?" Naruto said. "Aren't you just going to say, 'You all passed,' and move on?"

Kakashi chuckled. "How can I say that when the test isn't over yet? Good luck, though. If you need me, I'll be over here, reading my book."

Sasuke stared at the bells in his palm, still and silent for a moment.

"Sasuke," Zelda said. "What are you thinking?"

He didn't look up. "What do you think I'm thinking?"

"I think you're thinking that if you keep both bells, you can be on a team all by yourself."

Sasuke made a fist, enclosing them. "I am thinking that. And I find I can't avoid thinking that, and the more I think it, the more it appeals to me compared to what you offer. I am thinking that I can progress far quicker one on one with a jounin sensei than I can with the extra deadweight slowing me down."

"Deadweight?" Naruto repeated. "If it weren't for us, you'd still be the world's most conceited soccer ball!"

Sasuke turned to him. "If you knew how convincing your voice was, you'd shut up right now."

Zelda put a hand on Naruto's shoulder before their argument could devolve into a fistfight. "This still goes back to which one of us was right. If this test is a means of weeding out the weak, then by obtaining both bells you have proven yourself to be the strongest of us all. But if this is about teamwork, as I believe, then you, dear teammate, have just stabbed us in the back. What do you think will happen to you if you're wrong?"

Sasuke held her gaze for a full minute without moving, then he unclenched his fist and tossed her a bell. She handed it to Naruto.

"That's not what we agreed to," Sasuke said.

"I lied." Perhaps it was selfish of her. She doubted that a team of Sasuke and Naruto would fair well without her to be the voice of reason, but she needed Naruto to trust her and Sasuke to respect her. And, oddly enough, it worked. Naruto looked from the bell to her and grinned, and Sasuke smiled at her with … approval, of all things.

Kakashi looked up from his book. "You guys done?"

"We're done," Naruto said.

"You sure? How about you, Sasuke, how are you feeling? You feel good about this?"

He nodded.

"And you, Naruto. Are you done?"

"Yes, we're done already! Let's get a move on!"

"And you, Zelda, the one with the most reason to be unsatisfied with the results, are you done?"

She nodded. "Yes, Kakashi, I am satisfied with the outcome."

"Well, good," he said. "Because you all pass."

Naruto punched the air with both hands. "YES!"

"But Zelda still gets tied up to the loser post without lunch."

She blinked. "What?"

WWW

"So," Kakashi said, smiling. It was amazing how expressive a single eye could be. "I hope you all learned something."

"Teamwork is a necessary evil," Sasuke said.

"Partial credit. I'll expect more from you in the future. Anyone else?"

"You are an amazing cook!" Naruto said between mouthfuls of his lunch. "And you'll make a great wife someday."

"Thanks. I think. But seriously, I put a lot of work into making those, and I'm glad I didn't have to throw them away. Your turn, princess."

"You're a sore loser," Zelda said, still tied up.

Kakashi laughed. "You got that right. I've been planning that test for half my life, blending a tradition that goes back for at least forty years with my own unique twist, and then you happened. The whole point of a character test is to be the right person instead of knowing the right answer, which is completely ruined if you figure out the puzzle. Did Sasuke give you a bell because he valued teamwork, or did he just want to keep his bases covered? Would Naruto ever have stopped slamming his head against the proverbial brick wall in time to try something else?"

"Yes," Naruto said.

"We'll never know," Kakashi continued.

"I said yes."

"But anyway, you all managed to work together in the end, and if you keep it up, you'll be able to compensate for each other's weaknesses, because _no one_ can handle this job alone." He gave Sasuke a pointed look.

Sasuke scowled back at him. "I said it was necessary."

"Well, everyone has to start somewhere. Anyway, welcome to Team Seven, you're all officially genin, and we'll start training tomorrow morning." He turned and walked away.

"Alright!" Naruto said. "Score one for Team Orphan! What time tomorrow?"

"Team _what_?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi shrugged in response to Naruto's question. "Whenever I show up."

"Wait!" Zelda called. "Aren't you going to untie me before you leave?"

"That's what teamwork's for!" He disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Well," Sasuke said, walking off, "I've have enough nonsense for one day."

Zelda looked at her one remaining teammate finishing his lunch. "Naruto, would you mind untying me?"

Naruto put down the empty box and cocked his head at her. "What's that? You want me to tickle you to death?"

Zelda blinked. "What? No, that's not what I said at all. I want you to untie me."

He frowned. "Seems like an odd request to me, but if you say so, it's tickle time!"

"No! I mean it, Naruto! I'm serious, if you take one more step I'll–I'll– _Din's Fire._ "

As a gift of magic from one of the Great Fairies, Din's Fire didn't require hand seals. A sphere of flame engulfed her. It didn't harm her, her hair, or even her clothes, but the ropes that bound her, the post she was tied to, and her teammate were all burnt to a crisp.

" _Ow …_ "

In retrospect, she could have used Farore's Wind to escape without hurting anyone, but … she regretted nothing.

WWW

A/n So there was more of a delay than I expected. I got involved with a bunch of other projects, but when I came back to this one, it just flowed out, which was nice, because no one likes writer's block. I may have exaggerated some of their character traits for comedic and/or dramatic purposes, but in canon Kakashi did call them out for acting childish.

I'd like to thank Magery for editing this, and I'd like to thank all the people who have left reviews in the past to let me know what they thought of it and to encourage me to keep writing. Speaking of which, if you have the time to leave a few words to tell me what you liked, disliked, or just didn't understand, I'd really appreciate it.


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